2024 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto #95FF-TW Red #/10

Card Review: 8.9

It's very close, but I'm calling this "Red" variation my third favorite behind the white "base" (not sure it's fair to call it "base" as it is an insert and not part of the set) and "Blue" variations.  I will say that this red looks better in hand than it does in the scan.

With this "Red" variation, I am now in possession of at least one copy of each of the variations that are available.  I've heard it referred to as "completing the rainbow," but as the son of a public high school art teacher, I have far too much respect for the color spectrum to feel good about describing an assortment of white, green, two similar shades of gold, red and blue as a "rainbow."  That said, I'm definitely going to set aside my misgivings and call it a "rainbow" when I post about it on bluesky (and maybe here).

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2024 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto #95FF-TW Gold #/50

Card Review: 8.0

This "Gold" Archives Auto is numbered out of #/50 and is the fifth variation of this card that I've added.  All that remains is the "Red" version numbered out of #/10.  I rated this card the lowest of the five and that probably isn't entirely fair.  I think I'm just tired of them at this point.  Had this been the first one I picked up after the base card, it probably would have made a better first impression.  

I will add that I find it to be entirely too similar in color to the "1/1 Superfractor," from a distance you can't really tell them apart.  I would have preferred a brighter, less similar color, like a neon pink or orange, or a pastel purple or something.  A '91 Fleer yellow would be cool.  This gold is basically the "Superfractor" without the microchip texture all over it.

Something I do find to be a positive about these color variation autographed cards is the back.  The back has a very matte finish.  It's great, so great in fact, that it's frustrating.  To know that Topps has the ability to make "modern" baseball cards with raw matte backs, not exactly the same as, but certainly similar to the backs used for their first fifty years bugs me.  Why can't they do this as the standard back in the base set?  I would describe these backs as almost the same in feel as 1992 Topps, maybe a little better, but a little natural evolution in card stock quality is to be expected.  The only explanation I can come up with is a concern that the matte backs could "damage" the card surface of the the adjacent card in a pack?  Which, if is the case, just irritates me more.  Kids today need to get over their condition obsession.

In any event, I'm happy to add this, and at the risk of providing spoilers, barring a mistake by the post office a post about the "Red" variation should be appearing on this blog shortly.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2024 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto #95FF-TW Superfractor #/1

Card Review: 8.7

This is it, the 2024 Topps Archives one of one "Superfractor."  And,...I guess it's okay.  I paid nearly three as as much as I ever had for a single Wallach card to own it (2005 Topps Rookie Cup Relic being the previous owner of that title) and I guess I'm okay with that?  When I saw this pop on eBay I immediately did a search to see what others were selling for.  The results weren't encouraging.  Guys I consider to be relatively anonymous players were coming in at around $400, which was a non-starter for me.  Regardless I went had and set a bid at $102 and walked away.  To my surprise, that was more than enough and the final auction price came in at just under $90.  Do I feel that's an insane price to pay for a baseball card printed in 2024, yes absolutely.  Had I known I was actually going to win the auction would I have bid that much?  Probably not.  My intention was to lose, post the pictures from the auction and blog about that.  But here I am, with my first "superfractor" in hand.

So what do I think?  I think it's okay.  The base card with the white border is still the best looking of these by a wide margin.  For purely display purposes, that's the one to go with.  I like this variation better than the green but not as much as the blue.  Though I don't have them in hand (and am not awaiting them in the mail either), I expect I'll like red better than than this and the gold looks about the same.  But I'll hold off to judge until, or if, I ever pick up the other two variations.  The ones currently for sale are asking nearly as much as I paid for this thing.

My primary complaint with this card is the sort of microchip pattern that the entire thing is covered in.  It's lame.  Worse yet, it's not limited to the border, it covers the enitire card.  To use the name of great new punk band out of the bay area, "Who Asked for This?" (check them on out spotify).

Number of this card in my collection: 1

OFFICIALLY HAVE THEM ALL.

2024 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto #95FF-TW Green #/99

 

Card Review: 8.1

This is the "Green" variation of the 2024 Fan Favorites Archives.  These are numbered out of 99 copies.  It's now the third 2024 Archives I've added, along with the standard white border copy, and the blue "color match" variation numbered out of 25.  The green border just doesn't work well with the Expos baby blue uniforms.  Whenever I see these various border color variations, or pattern variations on Topps cards (typically in the base set every year, usually not ones that include Wallach) my first instinct is to imagine how they would look as a standard set design.  Sometimes I think they would work, more often, I don't.  That's not rooted in any hatred of brightly colored borders, I give them all a fair chance.  For instance, I love 1991 Fleer (yellow) and 1991 Donruss Series 2 (green).  I can't stand 1990 Donruss (red) or 1991 Donruss Series 1 (blue).  And sometimes I'm just sort of indifferent to them, like say 1986 Fleer (navy blue).  So I do feel my assesment is coming from a relatively unbiased place when I say this green just doesn't work for me, with this particular photo and likely wouldn't as a set either.  A final note, these borders have sort of a shiny, oil on water shimmer to them, as well as the top half of the card, that sort of fades to a more standard matte finish where the autograph is.  I actually kind of like it as a gimmick, but would find it offensive as an actual set.

In any event, there are three more of these variations out there, a gold (#/50), red (#/10), and single "superfractor" wonka ticket variation.  I know they're out there, but at the moment, the seller's on eBay want them more than I do.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2024 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto #95FF-TW Blue #/25

Card Review: 9.0 

I've seen this card labeled as "color match" instead of "blue," in fact, that's how the listing on eBay I purchased it from titled it.  The baseball card database however is calling it "blue," and that makes more sense to me, so I'm calling it "blue" as well.  These blue variations are numbered out of 25, making it scarcer than the green (#/99) and gold (#/50), but more abundant that the red (#/10) and the 1 of 1 "superfractor."  

Currently I only have this and the basic one in hand, with a green on the way, but I've seen photos of all of them and the standard (regular?) version is the best looking by a wide margin.  Which, makes these a little unnecessary and redundant, doesn't it?  Then again, all of these are inserts and not part of the actual Archives checklist, so they're all sort of gimmick cards without a set to call home.  

In any event, personal distaste for inserts and on card autographs aside, it is more or less still a baseball card made by Topps that says "Tim Wallach" on both sides and has his picture on it, so I'll try to collect them all, though there is no universe where I actually pay any sort of premium to add the red or "superfractor" variations.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2024 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto #95FF-TW

Card Review: 9.3 This is the first "new" Tim Wallach card Topps has put out since the 2019 Archives set, which included Wallach in the "Montreal Expos 50th" subset.  This card is done in the style of a 1995 Topps, and I'd call it a significant improvement over the original, which wasn't bad to begin with.  It's really a very nice looking card.  The vintage Expos baby blues work really well with this design (but they look so good they work well with just about any design).  By 1995 the Expos had stopped wearing these uniforms in favor of the bland grey script jerseys on the road, and Wallach was in his third year with the Dodgers regardless.  

The front photo of this card is as nice as any Topps ever put on a Wallach card.  While I can't prove it, I'll go ahead and say with an enormous degree of conifidence that this photo was taken during the same game, if not same at-bat, as the photo used on Wallach's 1990 Topps card (more photos below for comparison).  At some point I may get around to photo shopping this photo onto the 1990 card.  The primary back photo looks very familiar, but I couldn't place it to a card.  A quick google search shows it to be a Getty Image from 1988.

My nitpicks, to the extent that I have any, are two fold. The first is the autograph.  I know I'm fighting not just a losing battle, but a full on lost cause here, but I can't stand autographs on cards.  Ten year old kids getting a card autographed by a player at the ball park is great, I can name every player that ever signed for my brother and I as a kid.  But cards out of the pack shouldn't have sharpie or pen marks on them.  They're just a blemish, and the wrong kind of blemish (as in not a wax or gum stain, which of course are fine).  My second tiny complaint is with the tiny action photo on the back.  We've seen it before.  It's the photo used by Topps for Wallach's 2017 Archives card.  The guy played 13 seasons in Montreal, there's enough photographic evidence of it that Topps doesn't need to double up.

All in all, I am very pleased with the release of this card, and will make an effort to track down a sample of each of the two or three dozen variations that Topps probably made of it, so long as the prices aren't too insane.  So far I've seen four different colored and numbered variations, but I suspect there are more.  I'll update when I learn something definitive.

Number of this card in my collection: 2

Photo Comparisons

   

Original 1995 Topps vs. 2024 Topps Archives

 

Original 1995 Topps back vs. 2024 Topps Archives back

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1990 Topps, photo taken at Shea Stadium, likely from same game.  Notice the batting gloves.

 

Getty Image from 1988 used for card back.  Small action photo on 2017 Archives below.

History of Topps Archives Fan Favorites Tim Wallach Autos:

   

2003 Topps Archives (left), 2017 Topps Archives (right)

2019 Topps Archives (left), 2024 Topps Archives (right)